June 06, 2024
Gap growing in mental health workforce
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The Public Service Association wants an urgent meeting with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey over workforce issues identified in a major mental health and addiction monitoring report.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission’s Kua Tīmata Te Haerenga report released today identified several serious workforce trends in the five years from 2018 to 2023.
National secretary Kerry Davies says the union strongly supports the commission’s lead recommendation that Te Whatu Ora develop a workforce plan specifically for mental health and addictions workforces, and a distinct action plan to meet the needs of whānau Māori.
She says mental health nurses, drug and alcohol clinicians, allied health workers, support workers, assistants, and people across the system desperately want to be part of the solution and deserve to be heard by the Minister.
The report identified a high level of vacancies as well as the increasing complexity of patient need, meaning fewer people can access the specialist services they need.
Vacancy rates across adult specialist services more than doubled in four years from 5.5 percent in 2018 to 11.1 percent in 2022.
“Many of those pushed out of this field by lack of support and challenging working conditions are experienced people with years under their belt. Where they can be replaced, it is by people newer to the workforce still learning the ropes,” Ms Davies says.